Frictional Games Forum (read-only)

First off i am (well currently a was) enjoying the game immensely. Plenty of scares and pure terror (i don't like water anymore) but i hit upon an aggrivating game mechanic.

After finding the key to the machine room i was confronted with a monster to run from. i had checked out a few videos and saw that hiding in a closet would work to get away and had pre opened the doors in advance of picking up the key. Monster shows up and i run in and close the door...monster comes right over and kills me through the door. I figured i had done something wrong though the death text (sorta blunt telling ya what to do eh?) confirms its hide in wardobe time.

i pick a different one to hide in and because in one video it shows the person peeking out to see if its safe i decide to try it. barely opened the door, just enough to see him comming right over after beating the door down and kill me again. ok, maybe i'm still not getting it quite right, won't open the door i'll just wait! next time for sure!

oh...no next time? i'm not quick enough on the draw so the game decided to remove the challenge? hmm well thats no fun. two tries then thats it? hmm well that dramatically reduced my desire to play really. i can just stand there whenever a monster shows up, die twice and move on in the span of 30 seconds? maybe in your next game you'll realize that people like challenges and don't want them removed after 2 tries. What incentive do people have to run and hide and be terrified when it makes no difference in the game?

I didn't need any incentive. The pure terror that those monsters inspired in me always made me run or hide, I never considered "dying" to remove the challenge. Plus, say there's one monster that continually gets you, you can't seem to get past it. If the monster spawn wasn't changed after a while, they would cease to be scary, and become a frustration, which would kill the whole mystique of the monsters. You aren't supposed to know when they are going to show up.

There are several occasions in the game when the monsters do not disappear until you find a way to get past them.
And you never know after how many deaths each monster is going to disappear. I once was killed, respawned and ran forward feeling very confident because I thought that the bad guy was gone. And he suddenly appeared just in front of me making my pants wet, although this time I survived the encounter.

From a recent interview ( http://pc.ign.com/articles/113/1137370p1.html ), dying does not necessarily despawn the ghoulie that caused your end, but "When you die, the map changes. This can mean an enemy changes placement". So I thinking often this changes his location to somewhere else, but has a chance to stay put and be ready to harass you a second time.

Enemies will not spawn if you die multiple times, but that is so you keep immersed and the game does not become tedious or frustrating. After dying twice you will likely no longer be scared and you will just want to finish that section. If you are immersed and playing the game properly (in the dark with volume up and headphones on, ALONE!) then you will not want to get attacked twice and move on because you will be scared. If you are able to just stand there then you would not be enjoying the game either way.

hmm. there was one time i died and after i respawned i was in a different part of the level, had to escape and get to a door. on my way there the monster that was after me was still chasing me but came from the direction of where i was before. freaked me out, didnt expect that to happen.